Kem Sokha, leader of the opposition Cambodia National
Rescue Party (CNRP), speaks to supporters during an election campaign in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
Thursday, June 27, 2013. Cambodia's political parties on Thursday kicked
off campaigning for the July 28 general election, which is almost
certain to see the return to power of Asia's longest-serving leader,
Prime Minister Hun Sen. (Photo CNRP)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Rival motorcades of political
party supporters drove through Cambodia's capital Thursday to kick off
the official campaign period for a general election next month that is
virtually certain to see Prime Minister Hun Sen, Asia's longest-serving
leader, extend his 28 years in power.
The ruling party and opposition parties both held rallies, each drawing as many as 10,000 people.
The July 28 election will be the fifth parliamentary poll since the
United Nations brokered a peace deal for Cambodia in 1991, a process
meant to end decades of bloodshed that included the communist Khmer
Rouge's genocidal 1975-79 rule. Hun Sen, who is 60, said recently that
he intends to wield power until he is 74 — cutting back from an earlier
vow to stay at the top until he's 90.
The iron grip on government held by Hun Sen's well-established
Cambodian People's Party gives him major advantages, including the
loyalty of the civil service and the power to dispense patronage and
other favours.
Hun Sen has hammered home the point over the past year with a massive
land redistribution program that critics charge is open to corruption
and is politically motivated. The move also is meant to defuse criticism
that the government is complicit in widespread land-grabbing by ruling
party cronies.
In the last election, in 2008, the CPP won 90 of the 123 seats in the
National Assembly, which rubber-stamps Hun Sen's edicts. This year,
eight parties are contending for the ballots of 9.6 million registered
voters.
The opposition does not even have the benefit of using parliament to
make its case. Two weeks ago, 28 opposition lawmakers were expelled from
parliament because they had technically left their old party to contest
the upcoming polls in the name of the newly merged Cambodia National
Rescue Party.
The action handicapped opposition lawmakers' ability to campaign by
depriving them of their salaries as well as their parliamentary immunity
from arrest. Hun Sen's government actively uses defamation laws to
punish people making critical remarks that are common in an election.
Even before the move, the party was badly crippled by the absence of
its charismatic leader, Sam Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile to
avoid 12 years in prison from convictions widely seen as politically
motivated.
Deputy party leader Kem Sokha has faced a deluge of harassment lately
that is widely thought to be politically inspired, including
allegations that he made statements that some evidence of atrocities
committed by the Khmer Rouge had been fabricated, and charges of sexual
misconduct. Legal action is pending against him in several instances.
In recent years, lawsuits against government critics have become a
hallmark of Hun Sen's administration, which in earlier days was known
for intimidation and violence. Rights advocates say Cambodia's courts
are prone to political influence.
Earlier this month, Hun Sen's party had the National Assembly pass a
bill making it a crime to deny that atrocities were committed by the
Khmer Rouge. Passage of the bill was followed by a mass rally supporting
it.
"It's a tool to try to intimidate the opposition but also to
galvanize his side, to demonize the opposition as unfit to govern, and
to show that he's that he's in charge, to show the country that he can
completely dominate the opposition. And make them squirm," said Brad
Adams, Asia director for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
A CPP statement issued Thursday claimed responsibility for toppling
the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and restoring to the people "rights,
freedom, democracy and dignity." The Khmer Rouge was ousted in an
invasion by Vietnam, which installed a new government that included Hun
Sen, who defected from the Khmer Rouge in 1977.
Despite the long odds, opposition CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said that
his party would win the upcoming election because a majority of people
dislike the ruling party's policies. He said that under Hun Sen's
leadership, the country's natural resources have been destroyed, its
forests have been decimated by illegal logging and people's living
standards remain lower than those in neighbouring countries.
Hun Sen has vowed to continue his practice of not making public
appearances during the campaign. On Monday, before going silent, he
urged people to vote for him as the only candidate with enough
experience to effectively lead the country.
Speaking to thousands of villagers in his home province of Kampong
Cham during the inauguration of a Buddhist pagoda, he compared his
leadership and experience to that of a good driver who takes full care
of his passengers' safety.
"Voting for the Cambodian People's Party is voting for continuing
progress, for maintaining peace and political stability," he said.
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